Roland’s Wood and
Lavender’s Land
Prospectus, February
2016
Background
Roland's
Wood is a four hectare piece of "English style woodland", with a
Northland twist, on Inlet Road, 3kms from Kerikeri, generously bequeathed to
the people and dogs of Kerikeri by Roland Sansom.
After a
period of neglect The Woods has been supported and maintained by an army of
volunteers who have become known as the Friends of Roland’s Wood (FORW). For around a decade the FORW have been
steadily bringing the woods up to a standard that Roland Sansom would have been
proud of. There have been many unsung heroes and everyone who has contributed
to resurrecting this stunning woodland is not only thanked by the Trust but I
am sure, by the people of Kerikeri.
The park-like
setting is a paradise for dog owners where dog owners can let their best
friends run and forage off-lead. It has become a vital community asset when
there are few other areas that allow dogs to roam free.
At the time
of Roland’s premature passing, half of his land holdings in the area of what is
now known as Roland’s Wood was bequeathed to the Far North District Council
(FNDC) in trust with the remaining half bequeathed to his sister, Lavender, who
has now also passed away. This neighbouring 5.4 hectares of land was also
planted in many of the English style trees by Roland Sansom which still exists
today, although not maintained.
Current
With
Lavender’s passing the land is now in the hands of her estate beneficiaries who
have instructed the trustees to sell the entire lot. The land currently has resource
consent for subdivision into housing which would likely mean, if developed,
that many of the trees will be lost.
In Dec 2015
The Friends of Roland’s Wood formed a charitable trust to formalise as a body,
in the anticipation of taking over formal operational and financial management
of Roland’s Wood, with oversight from the Trustee, the FNDC. This is currently
in train with on-going discussion with FNDC on the formal transfer.
Potential
The Friends
of Roland’s Wood see an opportunity for the people of Kerikeri and surrounds to
secure this additional land, preserving it from development for generations to
come. Kerikeri is a fast-growing area and to have a 10 hectare park with
woodlands, a dog park, walks and acres of space for children’s activities
within five minutes of Kerikeri township would be a jewel in our town’s crown.
If this land
is not purchased by the FORW Trust it is likely to be developed and cut up into
sections for housing and will be lost to the community forever. As a Trust we
have long and short term ambitions. Current
parking and access to Roland’s Wood on Inlet Road is insufficient and also
considered dangerous by many as the turning on a busy road on a partially blind
corner has its hazards. By acquiring the additional land currently known as
Lavender’s Land the Trust will be able to secure a much safer and wider access
via the bottom of Heron Hill. It will also enable the Trust to put in
appropriate parking facilities rather than the current parking which only
caters for approximately four vehicles and has a difficult turning circle.
Over time we
envisage increasing the woodland/dog park area into some of what is now
‘Lavender’s Land’. This would still leave plenty of land to develop things like
a large scale adventure play ground, picnic areas and walking tracks down to
the Okura stream (as examples) so not only the woodland and dog lovers get to
appreciate the asset, but it then becomes a broader community space that can be
utilised by all. The slopes leading down
to the Okura stream we envisage will be planted in natives after a serious weed
eradication program to remove the gorse etc.
The current covenants
in the Roland’s Wood Trust don’t allow buildings or signage and are quite
restrictive. The FORW Trust respect the wishes of Roland Samson and by
acquiring the land next door it will not only give us flexibility, with better
and access parking but it would also allow us to have a small implement shed, a
water tank and some signage. Perhaps build a community pagoda among other
things. Currently the volunteers have to
bring back and forth all the tools they need and also any water required. There
is nowhere to store a quad and trailer. These may seem like small matters but
it has a very big detrimental impact on the on-going maintenance and
development of the woods.
What is required
It is likely
the Trust will only have a very short window of time to raise sufficient funds
to acquire the land. The Trust
will require strong support from the local community, media, community board,
dog lovers and council to raise sufficient funds to make the acquisition to
preserve these 10 hectares for the community for future generations to enjoy.
The recent
Crowd Funding for the beach in the South Island is a good example of what can
be achieved and we will be following a similar model by utilising Spark’s Crowd
Funding platform, Give-A-Little.
Publicity
and selling our story of what a great community asset this will be for
generations to come. Imagine people, your grand children and their children in
50 – 100 years time appreciating such a large green space that was secured
generations earlier.
What we
don’t have a lot of is time. We know the resource consent expires in mid June
2016 and we envisage the beneficiaries of Lavenders Estate will want to have
secured a sale well before this expires.
Options
The FORW’s
ambition is to acquire the entire 5.4 hectares and expand on the woodland and
create parkland for the rest. However there is a backstop position if fund-raising
doesn’t meet our ultimate objective. The current resource consent allows up to
14 sections over a multi stage development. One or two of these sections could
be sold off by the Trust for little development cost, comparative to the rest
and the compromise to the parkland isn’t significant. These sections are bordering
the existing Heron Hill road and would still allow for the access and parking
we desire and also still achieve approximately 3-4 hectares of additional
parkland. This is not the preferred outcome for the Trust, but it is an option
we must consider if fundraising falls short of out target and still allows us
to acquire the land.
Fundraising Target
Our target amount of funds is $600,000. These funds will be sufficient to
acquire the land and also help fund on-going maintenance and development of
Lavender’s Land and Roland’s Wood.
We don’t
have a lot of time. The beneficiaries of Lavender’s Estate want a quick sale
and we need to be in a position to commit to acquiring by the end of April
2016. (Actual date to be determined)
We are
looking for generous benefactors, but every little bit counts and no donation
is too small. Like the saying, many hands make light work, more donations, no
matter what size, more donations gets us closer to our target.
If we are
unsuccessful at acquiring the land, any funds raised will be returned if
requested by the party who put up the
funds and don’t want to donate to the Roland’s Wood Charitable Trust for the
on-going costs of maintenance and development. The Spark Give-A-Little platform
ensures that any funds donated to the cause are protected and will only be taken
up for the purpose intended.
So what will the new parkland look
like?
Effectively
the land area will more than double. As
you will see by the aerial pictures on the next page, by acquiring the land we
will obtain an area of considerable size that is already planted in the same
style as Roland’s Wood.
How can you help?
- Donate to our Give a Little campaign
- Spread the word via social media and or personal contacts and organizations
- Become a member membership forms available by contacting Robyn.
ΓΌ Any volunteers to assist in our goal
are very welcome. Contact
details:
- Simon
Upperton – Chair of FORW Trust.
Ph 0211 917 427 email supperton10@gmail.com
- Robyn
Terlesk – Treasurer
Ph 021 556 102 email robyn.terlesk@bdo.co.nz
- John Horrell
– Operations Manager
Ph 094078239 email jjhorrell@xtra.co.nz
If you would like to
know more about Roland’s Wood and the Friends of please visit our web page http://rolandswood.blogspot.co.nz/ or visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Rolandswood/